


Half Asleep And Dreaming

by sevenall



Category: Gundam Wing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-22
Updated: 2016-04-22
Packaged: 2018-06-03 18:51:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6622276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevenall/pseuds/sevenall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“A traveller may enter no stranger realm than the mind of another man.”</p><p>-- Geraldine Harris, The Dead Kingdom: Seven Citadels Part Three</p>
            </blockquote>





	Half Asleep And Dreaming

The alarms went off. Duo swore under his breath and shoved Quatre forwards, out of the way of the sudden sweeping searchlight. Between the motion detectors, infrared scanners and screamers, he was surprised it had taken so long. For an OZ maximum security facility, they had some serious patching to do.

He should have let Quatre fight his way out on his own. Standard procedure, each Gundam for itself and the pilot as well. But Quatre was drugged out of his ZERO addled little mind; it was going with him or leaving him to the tender mercies of OZ and at least he could still shoot straight, when Duo told him to.

And no time for second-guessing, oh FUCK, someone was topside, on the stairs and Duo dropped him with the second or third round, hard to tell. The man toppled over, discharging his rifle as he fell and the shots went wild, ricocheting around the mezzanine with the sharp pings Duo knew so well and hated so much. Couldn't tell where they'd end up.

"Q, you still with me?" he hissed, ejecting the empty magazine and shoving another in. There would be more guards from where that one came from and the place was a maze.

"Hang on, Duo," the answer came back. "I'm sure we'll find water soon."

Not exactly the answer Duo had been hoping for, but they had to move anyway, they could only be a couple of floors from ground level and once there, it would be a whole other game. Pulling Quatre along, he sprinted for the elevators, hit the fire-alarm in passing and got them both doused by the next sprinkler. Yeah, they were finding water, alright.

Heavy metal fire doors slammed shut behind them. Might buy a few minutes. Duo tossed the gun to Quatre, who caught it and looked at it as if he couldn't remember what to do with it.

"Quatre!" Duo snapped and Quatre moved to stand beside him and cover the hallway. Duo tore the panel cover off the elevator switch, which hurt his fingers, dammit, and ripped into the wires behind.

"I grew up here," Quatre said with an edge to his voice, "I know the land, I know the sand. I've outlasted the dust storms and the afternoon heat. You're just going to have to trust me."

Under Duo's busy hands, the first elevator went up, the other down, the third froze in place as emergency braking kicked in. He'd liked to have been on top of the first one and come out shooting instead of climbing the shaft, but one look at Quatre's pale, bruised face, and he knew he couldn't rely on the other pilot to do his part or any part at all.

"You first," he said, when the doors slid open. "Gimme the gun, Q. I'll be right behind you."

Quatre backed away from him, eyes narrowing to slits.

"It's the heat," he said, sounding as if he was talking to a child or a dog. "You're seeing things. Come on, Duo. Only a few steps more and then you can rest."

Duo found himself staring into the bore of a gun. To try to wrest a weapon from a Gundam pilot, you had to be either a fool or another Gundam pilot. Duo guessed he might qualify on both counts; the odds were still too high.

"04," he said slowly, reasonably, "get in there and start climbing or I'll fucking shoot you myself."

He never got the chance.

A sudden explosion blasted them both away from the elevator, throwing them against the opposite wall, hard. Remote-controlled charge, Duo thought, but he was already on his feet, firing towards the opening doors and the first wave of Ozzies charging towards them. Behind him, Quatre made an odd sound, somewhere between a gasp and a sob.

He dropped the point man cleanly and got two more as the charge faltered, fanned out. Then something slammed into his chest and he was thrown backwards. He saw, in slow motion, his own feet lift off the floor and the gun spin in the air. He felt his back arching and he tried to reach out his arm to check the fall, but all strength seemed to have drained out of him.

He hit the floor beside Quatre. The baseball cap bounced once, twice. Quatre turned his head and tried to smile with what was left of his face. The brownish muscles twitched, anyway, exposing more of cheekbone and molars.

"It's just the heat," he said thickly, clawing at the base of his throat with red-stained hands.

"Whatever you say, buddy," Duo whispered, but he didn't believe it for a second.

\--

With a grimace, Quatre averted his eyes from the blinding sunglare and wished for his goggles. The air shimmered with heat and it was hard to judge distances, but the rock formation to the south seemed no longer ahead than a night's march.

Above him, the palm trees whispered harshly as a sudden breeze stirred their tops and Quatre pulled the scarf tighter around his face. A mere gust of sand could blast skin and flesh off and what was left might rot with infection. Just one more way to die in the desert.

He'd had to relieve Duo of his gun some miles back. Some people got jungle-crazy, other desert-crazy, a few hooked themselves into AI mecha and got crazy that way, happened to everyone. Soon as they got out of here, Duo would snap out of it or Quatre would get him the best therapy money could buy.

"Duo," he said loudly enough to carry. "We need to move with the shade."

No answer. Duo lay curled up on his side in their makeshift tent of blankets, facing away from him.

"Duo," Quatre said again, exasperated, and nudged the other man's shoulder gently. "Come on. I've told you, I'll get you out of here."

But Duo didn't stir, seemed barely to breathe and when Quatre withdrew his hand, it was wet with blood.

THE END


End file.
